A 19-year-old Cambridge, Minn., man accused of killing a young father last week on the Wisconsin bank of the St. Croix River acted in self-defense, his attorney argued Wednesday in Polk County (Wis.) Circuit Court.

The defendant, Levi Acre-Kendall, and Peter Kelly of St. Croix Falls, Wis., were in two fishing groups that argued across the river on the evening of April 14 in Interstate State Park, investigators say. The argument turned physical when Kelly and his friend crossed the river and surprised Acre-Kendall’s group in the dark, attorney Eric Nelson said.

Kelly, 34, was stabbed after trying to wrestle Acre-Kendall out of a car, Nelson said in arguing for a dismissal of reckless homicide charges against his client.

“It is our position that Mr. Acre-Kendall and his friends were accosted and assaulted,” Nelson said after the hearing. “Mr. Acre-Kendall was fearful for his life and he used reasonable force to defend himself.”

Judge Molly GaleWyrick denied Nelson’s request for dismissal.

Friends of Kelly and Acre-Kendall tell similar versions of much of what happened that night, according to Wednesday’s testimony from investigators. Both sides say Kelly and his friend, who were fishing on the Minnesota side of the river, argued with Acre-Kendall and his friends, who were on the Wisconsin side.

The argument continued and, as sunlight faded, Kelly and his friend drove across the river to confront the group on the Wisconsin side.

At this point, Acre-Kendall’s attorney argued, Kelly and his friend became the aggressors.

“Mr. Kelly and Mr. (Ross) Lechman traveled across the river and essentially hid in the woods and scoped out the situation,” Nelson said. “After my client said something to the effect of, ‘I guess the (expletive) aren’t coming,’ the victim stated, ‘We’re right here.’ ”

Investigators say Kelly and Lechman then approached and the argument continued face-to-face. Lechman threw Acre-Kendall to the ground. Acre-Kendall drew a knife, causing Lechman to step back. Acre-Kendall’s friends say he sat down in the passenger seat of their car as they gathered their gear to leave.

“Witnesses described Acre-Kendall sitting in the car with his legs out, door open,” Nelson said. “Mr. Kelly then tried to wrestle him out of the car, and it was at that point that he was stabbed.”

Lechman told investigators that he was watching Acre-Kendall’s friends on the other side of the car at the time. He said Kelly suddenly ran away and said “we got to go” and “he stabbed me.” He asked Acre-Kendall if he had just stabbed his buddy and Acre-Kendall said something like, “Yes, yes, I stabbed him,” Lechman told investigators.

Acre-Kendall and his friends fled the scene as Lechman first kicked at the departing car and then scrambled to save his friend’s life, investigators said. Lechman ran past Kelly in the dark, and he found Kelly on the ground but couldn’t find the keys to their vehicle. He broke a back window to reach a cellphone to call 911.

By the cellphone light, he said, he could see blood pouring from Kelly’s chest. Lechman’s 911 call came in at 9:45 p.m. Kelly was pronounced dead at St. Croix Regional Medical Center at 10:35 p.m.

Kelly was married and the father of five children age 9 and younger. He was head youth wrestling coach for St. Croix Falls schools and a volunteer coach in the high school wrestling program.

Acre-Kendall turned himself in two days after the incident. He remains in the Polk County Jail in lieu of $125,000 bail. Arraignment is scheduled for May 4.

Jaime DeLage can be reached at 651-228-5503. Follow him on Twitter at twitter.com/ JaimeDeLage.

Jaime DeLage did Peace Corps stints in Botswana and Namibia and then slipped into journalism by doing (free) freelance work for his hometown paper, the Crookston Daily Times, in 1993. Since then he has worked for the Northern Light in Williams, Minn., the Grand Forks (N.D.) Herald (part of the staff that earned a Pulitzer Prize for coverage of the Flood of 1997) and the Duluth News Tribune. He joined the Pioneer Press in 2013.

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